Monthly Bits: Character A Day
by d.honey
Summary: Drabbles written for sm.monthly's March 2008 challenge
1. Reigning Rules

( He is unusable. She is impractical. )

* * *

Title: Reigning Rules  
Theme: Acquaintances_Queen Serenity (2d), **usako_mamoru**, 2nd anniversary  
Character-A-Day, Day 31: Queen Serenity, **sm_monthly**, March 2008  
Genre: Drama  
Rating: PG

* * *

Serenity sighed against Endymion's lips.

"I have to go."

His kiss insisted she did not.

Licking her parted lips, she spoke as he withdrew, her words falling onto his skin. "I have to go. My mother-"

"Already knows." Queen Serenity spoke without anger, without annoyance, and without light.

Instead of separating them, her presence did nothing to their stature, for they neither sprung apart or clung together more tightly. Emerging from the shadows, she lifted both eyebrows in question, waiting for one of them to move.

Serenity tried first. "Mother-"

"No, Serenity," the queen interrupted smoothly. "We're leaving."

Serenity made to move, but Endymion tightened his hold.

Queen Serenity watched the gesture closely. "You've had your fun."

Princess Serenity could not believe that the fullness of Endymion's presence, the calming of his touches, the loneliness of being without, was being summed up to 'fun.'

"I love him." She said it in a convincing voice, emphatic of her emotions. She had to reach her mother, convince her that this was not 'fun,' this was-

It seemed like the queen almost snorted. Instead, she tilted her chin up. "Serenity-"

"I love him!" as if shouting it would make it mean more. As if yelling it would make it more true.

The queen tried Endymion. "Please step away."

She was never going to let him see Serenity again. She had purposely let them meet so they could be together one last time. But, now, she planned on interfering.

"We-"

"There is no 'we!' There is you and there is her and that is done," Queen Serenity stressed, tapping her foot and shifting her weight.

Endymion turned, keeping Serenity in his arms, shielding her slightly from her mother. He felt her shaking.

This was not a daughter who believed in her mother's benevolence.

Queen Serenity flicked her hand towards Endymion, slightly shaking her head. He stumbled backwards, hand on his chest as he struggled to breathe. He lowered himself to his knees, trying to swallow air. Serenity cried out, placing her hands all over his back, trying to help through touch alone.

"He's fine, Serenity," she said impassively. "There are rules in place for a reason. You _cannot_ be here. Not anymore. You've had your small adventure; it's time to return to the moon."

"I love him." Serenity whispered now, knowing that saying it or feeling it changed nothing. That only she and Endymion believed it mattered. That love was unusable and impractical in a world where strength in rules reigned.

That in the larger scheme of things, hate mattered more than love.

And never in her life, did Serenity hate as she hated her mother then.

* * *

end

x-posted to "Anniversary 2007"


	2. Left Behind

( ... one more person… )

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Title: Left Behind  
Theme: Character-A-Day, Day 28: Nephrite, sm_monthly, March 2008  
Between the Sheets (#66) – taken from 101_kisses  
Genre: Drama  
Rating: PG-13

* * *

She slipped underneath, rippling the covers into dark, deep waves shimmering by moonlight.

Her body flowed around his, fluid and sinuous, creeping like a growing stem and winding around to firmly trap him in place.

He lay back and enjoyed her ministrations, languished in the feathery touches, savored the hard rocking, and luxuriated in the small, soft body.

This would be their last night, his last night with either of them.

Zoisite planned on telling her tomorrow. He was sentimental like that, sensitive, attached.

Nephrite already knew none of the senshi would side with them. None would understand the necessity or the danger of Beryl.

He simply added Mercury as one more person on the list of people being left behind. Underneath Endymion, right above Jupiter.

* * *

end

x-posted to "Twisted"


	3. Dreams

( "I the skies forego, And bear the lamp of heaven to shades below." )

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Title: Dreams  
Theme: Character-A-Day: Day 7: Helios, sm_monthly, March 2008  
Genre: General/Drama  
Rating: PG-13

* * *

"Priest!" she had called. "Priest!"

Helios turned to see the girl, only ever remembering how her hair flew fire against the blue sky.

She had asked for prayers: for the prince and for love and for the happily-ever-after all girls think they are entitled to.

He had smiled inwardly at her eagerness and hope, felt the chasteness in her want and the boundlessness of her love.

He had bowed, gently saying, "May all your dreams be pure and true."

* * *

"Helios," she had smiled.

Desperate for any link, she had come to him who would know the prince as well as the shitennou. Sitting and speaking with him until her blazing curls blended with the setting sun, she had confided her plans of love and imaginings of the future.

He had been stirred by her emotion, for the prince and for Earth, felt his own desire rise at her devotion, at her beauty.

He had hugged her, simply wishing, "May you find your pure dreams true."

* * *

"Helios," she had moaned.

She had come to him wrapped in temptation and had risen above him, moving her body over his willing pliant one. She had pleasured his body for hours, and he remembered every moment, every kiss strategically placed, every touch tactically evoking the sweetest caress, every movement drawing the utmost pleasure.

He remembered everything in crystal clarity, could feel her breath and smell her sweat if he stopped to think about it.

Remembering everything with alarming detail meant he could not forget how her glowing mane had slowly shaded, night after night, turning the bright young girl into blackened soot.

The last time, Beryl had risen from his lack of embrace, granting soothingly, "May all my dreams come true."

_"I the skies forego, And bear the lamp of heaven to shades below."  
-Helios, The Odyssey_

* * *

end


	4. The Mother & the Bride

( Sometimes, she's too much )

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Title: The Mother and the Bride  
Theme: Character-A-Day: Day 10: Ikuko, sm_monthly, March 2008  
Genre: General/Angst  
Rating: PG

* * *

Ikuko rested her hands on her lower back and arched, stretching her back into a deep bow. When she finally collapsed back into her slightly stooped posture, she set about making dinner.

She had just finished running around the city: the dress had to be taken in just the slightest; the flowers arrangements had been decided, though centerpieces remained uncertain; the shawls for the bridesmaids rested safely in the closet, and the veil had been forgone for a tiara.

Times like these, Ikuko could almost imagine that the bride was Usagi, and all the preparations were for Usagi's wedding. She could almost pretend that she was a part of that the "vital organization" of where the band would go and the "important decision-making" of who would be made to suffer who in terms of seating arrangements. She wondered if Usagi would have considered her advice and opinions, or if it would've been disregarded like "future mother-in-law's interference."

She was too much of a mother to begrudge Shingo's fiancée a preference for her own mother's advice, and she had long since forgiven Usagi the lies and the sneaking around.

But the exclusion from the wedding planning? The fact that Usagi had to call to make sure they were coming, as they had not responded to the ceremonial invitation that required an RSVP? She had not even helped Usagi get ready. She had been seated in the front and been treated like a guest. Even her picture with Usagi had been set up formally. No candids. No time.

No time for mothers and such when the world needed saving and kingdoms needed building.

No one ever mentioned the phasing out of the family.

Instead, Ikuko had been the happy mother, smiling and crying for the cameras that had never worried about Usagi's safety or future but had taken Ikuko's place at the wedding.

She never told anyone how painful that wedding had been, to be so distant from something so personal: allowed into the house but banned from touching or enjoying, only there to look and observe.

Maybe this wedding would be different, and this time, she'd really cry for joy. Maybe Serenity would even be able to make it. They hadn't RVSP'ed yet.

Shingo didn't know. Ikuko hadn't told him. She didn't have the heart, and she still hoped they'd turn up.

Sometimes, she was too much of a mother.

* * *

end


	5. A Heroine & a Sister

( How could he have known? )

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Title: A Heroine & a Sister (title pending)  
Theme: Character-A-Day: Day 9, Shingo, sm_monthly, March 2008  
Genre: Angst  
Rating: R

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When he finds out, he runs to his room and rips the poster off his wall. It rips easily, corners still stubbornly stuck on the wall, like a dying leaves ready to fall but clinging stubbornly by a stem. Manically, he shreds it to pieces, even using his teeth in attempt to erase the evidence. Tatters flutter the floor, and he breathes harshly into the floating drift.

He flings the Sailor V video game into a wall and stomps on it where it falls, not mad at her, but furious at anything that has to do with her.

He locks himself in the bathroom and climbs into the tub. He tries to forget all the times he has thought about Sailor Moon and fantasized about her, looking at blurred images and wondering what she looked like naked. He tries to forget what millions of other teenaged boys are dying to know: the identity of Sailor Moon.

His sister.

Her name doesn't even register anymore. His mind is consumed with who she is and what he used to do without that knowledge. He knows it's not his fault – they will tell him that years from now, over and over: he could not have known, it was Sailor Moon, not his sister.

But still. Still, Shingo tries to scrub himself away. 'No one else knows.' No one could possibly know how Shingo has shamed himself and his sister.

In one day, he has lost a sister and a heroine.

He balances on the edge of losing himself.

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end


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